The FBI has detained a New York court worker for allegedly making death threats against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and other prominent Democratic lawmakers.
The suspect was identified as Brendan Hunt from Queens, who works for the Office of Court Administration, and who is also a part-time actor and filmmaker.
The 37-year-old is accused of using his Facebook account to call for a crackdown on Pelosi, Schumer, and Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, among others.
"Trump, we want actual revenge on Democrats. Meaning, we want you to hold a public execution of Pelosi, AOC, Schumer, etc. And if you don't do it, the citizenry will", Hunt ostensibly wrote on his Facebook, according to a criminal complaint in a US District Court in Brooklyn.
He also noted that "we're not voting in another rigged election", adding, "start up the firing squads, mow down these commies, and let's take America back!", posts that apparently have since been deleted.
Hunt also faces charges of posting an 88-second clip on the video-sharing website Bitchute, titled "Kill your senators" and which appears to have since been taken down. The footage was posted on 8 January, two days after Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol in Washington, DC to try to prevent Congress from certifying the 3 November US presidential election results.
The FBI claimed that in the footage, the court worker urges Trump supporters to take up arms and return to the US Capitol during President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration.
"We need to go back to the US Capitol when all of the Senators and a lot of the Representatives are back there, and this time we have to show up with our guns. And we need to slaughter these motherf**ers. Put some bullets in their f**king heads. If anybody has a gun, give me it, I'll go there myself and shoot them and kill them", Hunt was allegedly seen saying in the video.
In another video that is still reportedly available, Hunt accused Pelosi of "doing an actual military coup", and touting Trump supporters as "patriots".
"They're coming for all of us, bro. It's 1776 time", the 37-year-old was heard saying, in an apparent nod to the American Revolution.
The FBI has made dozens of arrests since the 6 January Capitol riots claimed the lives of at least five people. US authorities also detained a Chicago man last week, accusing him of making threats pertaining to Biden's inauguration on 20 January.
